Molecular identification of Cryptococcus gattii from cerebrospinal fluid using single-cell sequencing: A case study

Min Chen, Nan Hong, Shan Hu, Peng Wang, HongZhi Guan, Meng Xiao, Xinlin Zhu, Abdullah M S Al-Hatmi, Zhe Zhou, Lei Gao, Teun Boekhout, Jianping Xu, Yingchun Xu, Wanqing Liao, Ying Yang

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodicalArticleScientificpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A 31-year-old man presented with cryptococcal meningitis (CM) without typical clinical characteristics, but with abnormal walking, difficult leg lifting and frequent falling. He was admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital. After multiple tests failed to identify the pathogen, single-cell sequencing (scS) was used to test the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Comparing the sequence obtained from single-cell sequencing with the reference database, it was found that the infection was caused by Cryptococcus gattii sensu stricto (AFLP4/VGI genotype). Cryptococcus is difficult to cultivate from complex body fluids. The etiological agent of this patient was identified and the patient was treated. This is the first case in which scS was used to detect and identify fungal pathogen after conventional testing failed to identify the cause of the disease. This report demonstrates that the scS approach can be used to generate fungal genome sequences directly from the CSF of a CM patient. The scS technology could become a powerful tool to precise detect microscopically visible but uncultured pathogens in clinical samples.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)634-638
Number of pages5
JournalThe Journal of infection
Volume81
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2020

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